Johnathan Cordano & Willa Brown-
With the end of our final school year rapidly approaching, us seniors are reaching the point of bittersweet endings and soon-to-be new beginnings. Or perhaps just bitter endings. With the absence of Senior Week, many of us seniors are preemptively mourning the loss of a cornerstone part of the liberal arts experience: Connection. A 50+ year old tradition at Gustavus was cut as a part of the overhaul of changes that warped our academic lives this year. The college expects us to happily receive our diplomas on May 4th and vacate the premises by 9 a.m. the next morning. With this comes the heartbreak of a lack of closure to our college experience; the loss of connection and community building for us before we go off into the real world and possibly never see each other again is disheartening. After all, community is touted as one of Gustavus’ five core values. All of these cancellations are seemingly without reason, aside from administrative sloth and insolence.
Now, for those of you who may not know what the school’s proposed solution is, let us enlighten you. They call them “Senior Celebration Days” which are in no way an accurate replacement for Senior Week. They aren’t even full days. We have been given a handful of random dates throughout the next two months to “celebrate” with our fellow graduates. One was this past Wednesday, March 12th. It was a short event in Alumni Hall that lasted 2 hours. It boasted free food, alcohol, swag, etc. Don’t forget the pictures with our President, Becky B! The next proposed “day” is March 19th, 2025. It’s an evening (3-9 p.m.) at the Mall of America where each individual chooses a voucher for either a round of mini golf, a SeaLife pass, or 3 hours on rides. Wow, that makes up for everything. Thank you! Especially when you used to go to Valley Fair or MoA for an entire day! Anyway… the final celebration days are the weekend of the big event itself. May 2nd boasts trivia and bingo from 6-9 p.m. in Alumni Hall. That’s it. That’s the event. May 3rd is just labeled “Grad Party” from 6-8 p.m. (again in Alumni Hall. We can’t escape it!) where we are encouraged to grab more “free swag”, whatever that means. They do have Waking Hours, a local Gustavus ethereal indie rock band, playing from 8-10 p.m. And then… Graduation at 2 p.m. on the 4th. And then we’re forced to move out come 9 a.m. the following day. Erg.
All of this substitution and Gustavus STILL added fuel to the fire by putting our graduation celebration inside Lund Arena. They say it’s because the weather is “unpredictable” but that’s the case every single year! Turns out, it’s been deemed necessary to have it inside not because of inclement weather but because of penny-pinching. Seems to be a recurring theme for our class; cut expenses where you can and who cares about those truly affected by it! In an email sent out to Seniors about continuing the tradition of donating $5 to receive a tunnel tour, Assistant Director of the Gustavus Fund Lauren Berg said “Dating back to the 1900s, the tradition of giving a gift back to the college has never been about money, but more about the participation of the Senior Class bonding together to make something great happen.” That’s great, but why would we donate to continue your tradition when you’ve ripped away our biggest bonding tradition of all?
It seems admins are overlooking how devastating these changes are and the repercussions they will have going forwards. One big oversight they seem to have is that the class of ‘25 will soon be Gustavus Alumni. Don’t expect that we will forget this kick in the face anytime soon. The emotional devastation this brings will significantly reduce our satisfaction with our college experience, thus making us far less likely to donate back to the school as we continue on with our lives post-grad. Mind you, alumni donations play a large part in keeping the college afloat, and any hit to that money is a direct hit to the school.
Furthermore, this change directly impacts recruitment, an area that the school has been trying to expand in recent years amidst declining enrollment numbers. The more that Gustavus Administration takes and takes from our college experience, the less inclined we’ll be to advocate for Gustavus to prospective students. From athletic recruitment to admitted student days, it will be hard to vouch for a school that touts such good school statistics when they can’t even provide something as simple –and yet so deeply important– as Senior Week to its students.
Another thing Gustavus’ Administration seems to be overlooking is how these changes will impact first-generation and working students who rely on the connection that a liberal arts experience provides. While Senior Week is an opportunity to let loose and celebrate the hard work and success we’ve achieved over the last four years, it’s also an opportunity to meet the handful of people we never got a chance to talk to before. It’s a chance to meet an unexpected friend or find future colleagues. By taking Senior Week away, Gustavus deprives its students of key life experiences and lessons that would otherwise take them far in life.
And now, the moment you have all been waiting for; our proposed solutions. First off, we have started paper petitions for you all to sign. If one finds its way to you, write your name down STAT! We know a lot of you are as outraged as us, so let’s start somewhere together. Second, we want Senior Week back for good. We worked very hard during our years here, and we’re being kicked to the curb in return. Our proposal is a Senior move-out day on Saturday, May 10th. This allows for five days of decompression and community for Seniors to close out our college experience on a high note! In past years, these days have included things like a Dive Dance, a President’s Banquet, and the renowned Bar Crawl! These things would be very easy to orchestrate and, in fact, many seniors are able and willing to help in the planning of these events. Moreover, these things help to stimulate local infrastructure both on campus as well as in St. Peter in its bars and restaurants. There are seemingly NO downsides. If you’re an underclassman and think this does not apply to you, think again. Who knows what next big change Gustavus will spring on its students! So, instead of sitting behind anonymous YikYaks in anger, let us do something about it in person.